BJ Penn's Trainer Calls Dana White a "Drama King"

UFC Primetime tried to insert what the BJ Penn camp unequivocally calls a non-issue. That is, there is a storyline being pursued that suggests Penn is taking a vacation in the middle of his training camp thereby somehow indicating Penn isn't taking the fight seriously or won't be properly prepared. Penn's head trainer, Rudy Valentino, says it's all rubbish. To wit:

“Dana White was making a big deal out of nothing,” Valentino tells InsideFighting.

I think Dana is a little concerned that BJ won't train as hard as he should. He is no doubt training harder now than he did a few years ago, but will need to be at his best to go a possible 5 rounds at GSP's pace...what better way to motivate him than to call him out on national television.

jakeiceman

1/15/09 5:22:40PM

When I watched it I figured right away that this was a plot for dramatic purposes. I know BJ has a prior history of being lazy in training but I think this is more of a mind game aimed at St. Pierre. He knows that St. Pierre will hear everything he says and does and that GSP will be under the impression that he is not taking the fight seriously. I personally think St. Pierre is weak mentally and I think this is just BJ's way of screwing with him.

God I can't wait for this fight, the first episode of Primetime had me jacked!

P.S.

Penn will win!

cmill21

1/15/09 5:28:36PM

Props if anyone can get me the whole Primetime on the net, I missed a bit of it.

grappler0000

1/15/09 5:33:07PM

Posted by cmill21

Props if anyone can get me the whole Primetime on the net, I missed a bit of it.

i think dana is too the guy takes a couple days off from like a 4 month training session dana doesn't know what it's like to be a fighter

wrona666

1/15/09 7:07:29PM

This is all staged BS to try and hype the fight.....I wouldn't take any of it too seriously.....

Jackelope

1/15/09 9:43:19PM

I think it's a half-truth. I also told my roommate that I'm sure it's mostly drama, but I'm certain there is some truth to it.

I have a really good friend that grew up living close by BJ and it seems as though in that area he's very well known. The area they live in is not like the typical Honolulu, HI you hear about and get the impression of. These are real Hawaiians with a completely different way of life. They work hard and play hard but all along the way they march to the beat of a different drum than regular people. From everything my friend has said about BJ and from everything I've experienced in a close working relationship with this friend it all seems true.

The reason why I tell that story is to hopefully illustrate the reasons why I have no doubt BJ would go about his training camp differently than 99% of the other fighters out there. One thing I've noticed in working with the Hawaiian friend of mine is that if you try to get them to do something your way they're not very receptive to it. All the same they'll go about it their own way and do it just as good if not better than the way you suggested. They seem to be very proud people who don't take shit from anyone and aren't very receptive to forceful leadership.

I am not sure how this will all work out, or what truly happened, but I'm sure there's some partial truth to it. If Dana tries to push BJ outside of what he wants to do then IMO he would rebel, and Dana would actually get a worse showing from him than if Dana just left him be.

telnights

1/15/09 9:54:39PM

If I was Dana I would worry about Penn's training as well since it was an issue for so long. Its well known BJ had issue with training in the past and Dana just wants to see the best BJ vs the best GSP and there's nothing wrong with that. Now I will say in their shows they play up the issue a lot but that's what TV shows due with everything. They take something that maybe an issue and make it sound like its the end all of problems.

Wolfenstein

1/15/09 10:01:54PM

What you didn't see is that afterwards Dana called GSP's manager and made sure George wasn't out at the club late not drinking booze . Come on Dana, let go of the "control switch" already.

nastshabast

1/15/09 10:10:52PM

It all seemed contrived to me, like some WWF shit.

Aether

1/15/09 10:47:50PM

well he is a bit of a "drama king" but that's also sort of his job. He's a promoter, if creating drama is what will sell the fight that's what he will do. I believe a solid portion of what Dana says is for absolutely no reason other than politics and selling a product. I don't think he believes the things he says about Fedor for example, I just think he knows how to devalue his competitor's product.

Obviously he's doing his job very well... Reporters are asking questions about the things he's saying, the fighters' trainers are now involved in the fight hype, and we're sitting here talking about it as well.

Dana is obviously a smart man.

Gipper

1/16/09 10:08:32AM

hey dana can ride penn's ass all he wants because dana has never given any other fighter a chance like he's giving bj.